Thursday, September 13, 2018

Giant Plumose AnemoneMetridium farcimen (giganteum)
The Giant Plumose Anemone is a fairly large anemone of typically white,
cream, tan, orange or brown colourations. Subtidal animals can often
reach 25cm in crown diameter and 50cm in height. However larger
specimens have been reported around 75cm in height. Found in both
subtidal and low intertidal zones, including jetties, wharfs, harbours,
breakwaters and floats. When found on wharfs, anemone communities of
dense distribution are common. Larger specimens are often found
solitarily in the subtidal. The Plumose Anemone ranges from Alaska to
southern California and along both sides of America. (Race Rocks
Ecological Reserve)

NOAA lays plan to capture ailing orca J50, announces public meetings
Plans are being laid to capture J50, the ailing young orca, as efforts
to help her in the wild have failed and her condition continues to
decline. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
which is in charge of recovery of the critically endangered population
of southern resident killer whales, has been quietly laying plans for
capture of the whale for weeks.... The agency said further intervention
to help J50 will depend on avoiding harm to the rest of her family in J
pod and the southern resident population.... The first public hearings
on the controversial plan have been scheduled with just a few days’
notice: 7 p.m. Saturday at Friday Harbor High School in Friday Harbor,
and 1 p.m. Sunday at the University of Washington Haggett Hall Cascade
Room in Seattle. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times) See also: Capture and treatment being considered for young emaciated orca Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways)

Summer drought deals ‘devastating loss’ to western red cedar, B.C.’s official tree
Parksville is dealing with the “devastating loss of cedar trees in our
parks” and is pinning the blame on summer droughts. Dry weather does not
agree with western red cedars, B.C.’s official tree. They fare best in
cool, wet environments. That is why we are seeing dead and stressed
trees on southern Vancouver Island and the east side of the Island,
where moisture has been in short supply this summer. “At this time,
cedar trees look quite ugly as the dead brown scale-like leaves hang on
the trees,” a City of Parksville statement said. “The leaves will soon
fall, leaving the silver ghosts to populate our forests.” Carla Wilson
reports (Times Colonist)

Driest summer in a century offers taste of Seattle's future
You can only get to the lush rainforest of the Queets Valley on the rare
occasions when it hasn’t rained recently and the Queets River isn’t too
deep to wade across without being swept away. But after western
Washington’s driest summer in at least half a century, the river ran
unusually low, and Olympic National Park's Queets Trail was easily
approached: The river’s green water only reached this reporter’s shins
as he waded across its slippery cobbles over Labor Day weekend under
cloudless skies. The U.S. Geological Survey’s river gauge showed the
Queets flowing at about half its average levels in August, the lowest in
63 years of record keeping. John Ryan reports. (KUOW)

Ferries floats new vessels, bigger fleet, system tweaks in 2040 proposal
Washington State Ferries is floating a proposal to commission 16 new
ferries, grow its fleet by four boats, shift vessels to hybrid-electric
power and make improvements to ferry terminals as part of $7.6 billion
of capital projects around Puget Sound over the next two decades. In a
draft of its long-range plan released this week, WSF said the lion’s
share of that funding ($5.5 billion) would be dedicated to new vessel
construction and preservation of existing vessels. Work on ferry
terminals over that period account for about $1.8 billion. The plan
identifies $6.7 billion of projected capital and operating costs that
don’t have funding yet. Historically that shortfall has been covered
through appropriations made by the Legislature, the report said. Nathan
Pilling reports. (Kitsap Sun)

More Peninsula beaches closed to shellfish harvest
The state has closed Clallam County’s Strait of Juan de Fuca beaches
from the Lyre River east to the Jefferson County line to recreational
shellfish harvest because of a high level of toxins, it was announced
Wednesday. That means that most areas on the North Olympic Peninsula are
closed for recreational harvest. Shellfish harvested commercially are
tested for toxin prior to distribution and should be safe to eat, the
state said. All beaches are closed for all species except for Discovery
Bay and Port Ludlow, including Mats Mats Bay, which are closed only for
harvesting of butter clams and varnish clams. (Peninsula Daily News)

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